Wordorigins.org

lock, stock, and barrel

Dave Wilton, Saturday, September 16, 2006

This phrase, meaning completely or thoroughly, is another phrase originally referring to firearms. In this case, it refers to the three major parts of a musket, the firing mechanism or lock, the stock which rests against the shoulder, and the barrel. The phrase was originally reversed, first appearing in an 1817 letter by Sir Walter Scott as stock, lock, and barrel:

Like the High-landman’s gun, she wants stock, lock, and barrel, to put her into repair.

The current sequence dates to 1842 in William T. Thompson’s Major Jones’s Courtship:

Do you think that Ring Around The Rosie makes reference to the Black Death? Or that the whole nine yards refers to WWII machinegun ammo belts? Or that Eskimos have 500 words for snow? If so, you need the Word Myths book. Find out more.